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Letter from the Rectory

March 2007

By the time this appears we shall have received our cross of ash and Lent will be well and truly underway.  Whenever we come into church during Lent, we can’t fail to notice the outward signs of this special season: the colour of the altars and vestments is purple, and flowers and other decorations have disappeared.  And we notice changes in our worship too: parts of the service such as the ‘Gloria in excelsis’ at the Eucharist, ‘Te Deum’ at Matins and the joyful acclamation ‘Alleluia!’ are omitted and, on the other hand, the penitential elements of the service may be given more prominence.  The reason for these changes is not to make us feel miserable.  It’s more to do with stripping things down to the essentials so that we can begin to see the wood instead of the trees – spiritually speaking. 

But all these outward signs of Lent in church and in worship are of little use unless we take Lent seriously in our own lives – it has to come alive for us.  So it might help us to make more sense of Lent if we consider, for a moment, the origins of this special season. 

During some of the early Christian centuries, most baptisms were performed at Easter, and the candidates (mostly adult) were put through an intense time of preparation in the weeks leading up to their baptism and First Communion at the great Festival.  Easter was also a time when people who had committed grave sins and had been ex-communicated (i.e. barred from receiving communion) were received back into the full fellowship of the Church having first made a public act of contrition.  In the weeks leading up to Easter, these penitents had to undergo ‘retraining’ in the Christian life as they prepared to make this act of contrition and looked forward to being able to receive Communion once again.

Eventually, someone must have had the bright idea that all church members might benefit by sharing in such a time of preparation in the weeks leading up to Easter, the purpose being to prepare, by prayer and fasting, for the celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lord – a time for renewal and growth in Christian discipleship.  And so, Lent as we know it came into being. 

In the modern world, most employers send their staff on courses to update their skills and develop their abilities from time to time.  Lent can be understood as a time for a similar retraining, renewal and growth in our Christian discipleship with a worthy celebration of Easter as the immediate goal for our endeavours.

This time of ‘retraining’ and penitence became particularly associated with Our Lord’s time of fasting in the desert following His baptism.  There, the Gospels tell us, He was tempted to take superficially easier and more attractive ways than the one He knew to be his Father’s will for him – the way of suffering and death. 

And so Lent is to be a time in the ‘desert’ with Christ, a time for facing our own demons and coming to terms with our own need for God’s grace as we seek to progress in our spiritual lives.  We should use this time well by doing one or more of the following:
·    Fasting – perhaps eating less or giving up a treat we normally enjoy.  By doing this we show that, through God’s grace, we can have some mastery over the demands of the flesh, a counter to the society in which we live, which always asks that we consume more and more.
·    Prayer and worship – if possible we give more time to prayer, bible reading, or attending an extra service (e.g.  the Wednesday Complines) or we may read a Lent book.
·    Giving – we may make a special effort to support a charity or missionary society, and maybe give more of ourselves by finding a ways to help others.

In these or other ways, we offer our Lent to God that he may bless us and prepare us to worthily celebrate the death and resurrection of the Lord at Easter.  At the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday evening at St Tudno, there will be a chance to renew our Baptismal Vows.  Why not make a commitment to come along to do just that, and make Lent your time of preparation?


Fr. John


Previous letters:

January 2007
February 2007